doi:10.1016%2Fj.still.2021.105143engÁlvaro-Fuentes, JorgeFranco-Luesma, SamuelLafuente, VictoriaSen, PabloUsón, AsunCantero-Martínez, CarlosArrúe, José LuisStover management modifies soil organic carbon dynamics in the short-term under semiarid continuous maizeART-2021-126969In croplands, the adoption of certain management practices may increase soil organic carbon (SOC) levels. In this study, we evaluated the short-term impact of crop stover management and the interaction between crop stover and irrigation method on SOC change in a continuous maize (Zea mays L.) system in Spain. Four years after the beginning of the experiment, total SOC and C fractions (particulate organic matter carbon, POM-C; and mineral- associated organic matter carbon, Min-C) contents, SOC stocks and SOC stock changes were measured in four different soil layers (0− 5, 5− 10, 10− 25 and 25− 50 cm) in an experiment with two irrigation methods (sprinkler and flood) and three stover management systems (conventional tillage with all the stover incorporated, CT; no- tillage maintaining the stover, NTr; and no-tillage removing the stover, NT). Stover management resulted in significant differences in SOC and POM-C but not in Min-C. In particular, NT reduced SOC and POM-C contents compared with CT and NTr (about 10 and 60 %, respectively). After 4 years, SOC change was not affected by the interaction between stover management and irrigation. Concurrently, both CT and NT showed SOC losses, reaching 0.11 and 1.22 Mg ha− 1 yr− 1 in CT and NT, respectively. However, NTr showed SOC gains at a rate of 0.09 Mg ha− 1 yr− 1. Consequently, the removal of crop stover has been demonstrated as a detrimental strategy to store SOC in the short-term in irrigated continuous maize systems.2021http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/10953210.1016%2Fj.still.2021.105143http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/109532oai:zaguan.unizar.es:109532info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/AEI/AGL2017-84529-C3-1-Rinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/AGL2013-49062-C4-4-RSoil and Tillage Research 213 (2021), 105143by-nc-ndhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess